Why does it matter how we regulate the use of human body parts?

- Journal of Medical Ethics

Human tissue and body parts. They have been preserved and displayed, both in museums and public shows. Real human hair is used for wigs, while some artists even use human tissue in their works. Blood, bone marrow, whole organs and a host of other structures and human substances are all transplanted into living persons to treat illness. New life can be created from gametes through in vitro fertilisation (IVF), while the creation of cell lines keeps tissue alive indefinitely. These uses create significant challenges for the legal system in the UK. The major challenge for the law is to balance the competing demands of those groups who have vested interests in human tissue—researchers, medical practitioners, patients, families, the community and the police, among many others. It must provide sufficient control to users of tissue, but also take account of the fact that our bodies hold psychological importance for us while we live and, after we die, for those we leave behind. To some degree the law has been successful, but we still lack a comprehensive, coherent approach to the regulation of human tissue. Partially as a reaction to this lack of a comprehensive approach, some commentators have turned to applying the concept of property to human tissue means to achieve regulatory outcomes they support.

This site compiles the latest research and academic journals as part of an NHMRC funded study, 'Maximizing the utility and sustainability of tissue banks: Supporting translational research in Australia through informed regulation and community engagement'.

This study is being conducted by the Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine and the Centre for Health, Governance, Law and Ethics based at the University of Sydney, Australia. The Network for Bodies Organs and Tissues is also contributing.

A substantial portion of the material provided in the database on this website was collected for a project on personalized medicine at the Centre for Law and Genetics at the University of Tasmania. That project is funded by Australian Research Council Discovery Grant DP11010069.